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  1. #1

    Default 16th Century Scottish House

    Hi I am in the middle of renovating a 16th Century Scottish Merchants house. We are replacing a number of doors, the main front door, Door to Courtyard etc. Anyone have any thoughts on, a) the type of locks that I should be looking at and b) where I could source them?

    Thanks,
    Neil.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Default Re: 16th Century Scottish House

    Well, it would really depend of what period you are restoring it too and how faithful you wish to be to the original ! However a major practical consideration would have to be that locks with mechanisms of that kind of period are certainly not going to satisfy your insurance company today !

    Personally I would go for slightly later locks, after all locks were constantly updated and you could get some handsome brass cased rimlocks that would look nice and functional. But use them in concert with some modern deadlocks as well. If done well and fitted with care the eye would be drawn to the rimlocks allowing the modern security locks to blend into the background.

    For rimlocks you might like to contact blackstage.

  3. #3

    Default Re: 16th Century Scottish House

    Hi, It will be hard to find circa 16cent door locks, You would probably have to go with locks from the continent ie Germany, I have come to realise that Scotland had a different timeline to England when it came to door locks. I have some big rim locks some brass some iron, from Scotland that may suite allthough they are most prob circa 18 cent, I do know of a man in Edingbro who has a good collection of early locks, He is hard to deal with but you may be luky as he does'nt like to let his locks out of Scotland. anyway Let me know if any of this is of interest. Regards H C Blue.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: 16th Century Scottish House

    It depends exactly where the house is but I would think that it is entirely possible that there were no locks fitted originally, just bolts of some sort -which I realise is not practical for later ages but does mean that you could focus on modern locks that do not show but do the required job. Some historic properties are fitting electronic locks that are operated by hidden sensors (behind the wood) so that no keyhole is visible.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: 16th Century Scottish House

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Gordon
    Some historic properties are fitting electronic locks that are operated by hidden sensors (behind the wood) so that no keyhole is visible.
    I did exactly that on a job in a grade 1 listed building once, the locking device was concealed in the frame & door. With the system operated by a proximity key system, the reader for which was buried in the frame and the owner simply presented his key to the frame at a known location to open the door. Simple to use, very neat, satisfied the insurance company & english heritage. It was however not cheap .....

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